It's not a delay, per-se

Early Intervention came on Tuesday and did their evaluation. It was good, and we are very relieved. In almost every area she was right on target or ahead of it. Her social skills, for example, came in at 8 1/2 months! She's starting to get leery of people she doesn't know. She listens intently when anyone is speaking, and she deffinately wants to be a part of the conversation. Last night we were getting ready for a bath, but before that I took a shower. She was in the bathroom sitting on Derick's lap and when I closed the shower curtain he said she was looking all over for me. Then she cried. I opened it, told her I was ok, closed it again and she cried. This went on and on for the entire shower. It made me smile because finally there is a baby that is crying for me as much as I am crying for them. As you can imagine, it was a quick shower!

The nurse did say, however, that she saw her Erb's Palsey even before she read it on the paper. The Pediatrician's have said that she's recovered completely. So instead of 'excercising,' we played. The nurse said that there are some kids who's Erb's gets completely resolved. Other kids who's arm never gets better, and even more kids like Lily where we don't understand the extent of the injury until she is starting to use it.

Lily can move her arm. She can grab her toes, pull her socks, shake a rattle, put her hand in her mouth, and even push the button on her Aquarium. But she can't bear any weight on it. And because she can't, she can't roll over, push herself up, or pull up on things (even though she can stand). What I didn't realize, until yesterday, is that typical development for kids with Erb's is sitting-standing-walking and they skip the rolling and crawling. We don't want her to do that because those are important steps in the development of everything else.

Where are we now? We're still looking at lots and lots of PT and OT. We're on a waiting list at both a hospital here and for a specialist at Shriners Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. Perhaps surgery, although that's a very last resort. Except all of that costs money. And lets be honest, we aren't exactly rolling in it. If I loose my job and subsequently my insurance, then Lily would qualify for help. Or, if/when we get a diagnosis from these doctors she will qualify for medical assistance but the appointments are about 6 months out.

And, as it turns out, we've made some calls for some legal advice and it turns out we have a heck of a case if we wanted to persue. Erb's Palsey is virtually unheard of in a c-section. In fact, I've only come across maybe 2 other cases and they were full term babies.

For now, though, we're leaving our options open and worrying about getting her the help she needs. Everything else will come in time.